FIVE COLBY THINGS: Colby Connections You Really Should Be Aware Of

We all know Colby’s influence reaches far beyond Mayflower Hill. From Mafiosi to swordfish to caffeine to railroads, use the tabs below to explore five examples of Colby’s connections to the world that may surprise you.

In the 1997 book and 2000 box office hit starring George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg, an epic storm batters the East Coast and the North Atlantic in 1991 and sinks the fishing vessel Andrea Gale. In the film Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio plays swordfish-boat captain Linda Greenlaw ‘83. Author Sebastian Junger wrote, “Not only is Greenlaw one of the only women in the business, she’s one of the best captains, period, on the entire East Coast. … When the Hannah Boden unloads her catch in Gloucester, swordfish prices plummet halfway across the world.”

No, the College is not named after the cheese or vice versa. But there is a nominal connection between the two. Colby College is named after Gardner Colby, who saved the institution with a $50,000 gift in 1867. Now the fun begins: Colby cheese is named after the city of Colby, Wisc. The city of Colby is named after Colby Station, a railway station on the Wisconsin Central Railway. Colby Station was named after, you guessed it, Gardner Colby, a longtime supporter of the railway.